1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the reduction of color plane alignment error in a printer, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for the reduction of color plane alignment error in a drum printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printer can include an intermediate transfer device, which transfers text and/or images therefrom to a print medium. An ink jet printer may contain an intermediate transfer member in the form of an intermediate transfer drum. To prepare for the image transfer process a coating assembly places a coating of fluid or gel onto a surface of the intermediate transfer drum. This fluid or gel has some degree of tackiness to it. A printhead is located approximate to the circumference of the intermediate transfer drum and an image is delivered to the fluid/gel layer by the printhead. As a sheet of print media enters into a transfer nip, formed by the intermediate transfer drum and a backing roll, the print media contacts the ink/gel, which becomes adhered to the surface of the print media.
Ink jet printers may contain multiple printheads each printhead assigned a particular color. Alignment between the printheads is crucial in order to achieve a quality image on the print media. In addition to the alignment of the printheads in an ink jet printer any misalignments of a transfer drum can lead to errors in the alignment of the ink droplets on the fluid/gel layer of the intermediate transfer drum. Misalignments due to manufacturing and the control of the intermediate transfer drum can result in errors that vary by in the angular position of the intermediate transfer drum.
What is needed in the art is a method to control the positional error in a drum of a printer.